Nursing help is just steps away for Marsiling's seniors

Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC MP Halimah Yacob visiting Mr Ng Teng Sun, a beneficiary of the Sunlove Community Care Centre. The centre provides free immediate healthcare services to elderly residents living nearby.
Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC MP Halimah Yacob visiting Mr Ng Teng Sun, a beneficiary of the Sunlove Community Care Centre. The centre provides free immediate healthcare services to elderly residents living nearby. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO

Mr Ng Teng Sun, 84, has been bedridden for three years following a major stroke, and the heavy responsibility of caring for him has fallen onto the shoulders of his wife, Madam Chua Sang, 68.

But since November, she has had help from the nearby Sunlove Community Care (SCC) Centre, whose nurses check on them every weekday morning.

"The nurses bathe my husband and this has really made things easier for me," said Madam Chua.

Sunlove's first community care centre is located at the foot of Block 4, Marsiling Road, and provides free immediate healthcare services to elderly residents in the one-room rental flats at blocks 3, 4 and 16.

It offers medical, nursing and therapy services to the elderly at the centre or in their homes. Since November, it has registered some 250 residents who need more care.

Home-based nursing care reduces the need for them to go to hospital every time they become sick. Nurses attend to emergencies and review clients within two days of a discharge from hospital. The centre also has a free clinic where general medications for common ailments such as flu or cough will be dispensed as prescribed by doctors.

MP for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC Halimah Yacob attended the community care centre's opening yesterday, and said it would pave the way for similar facilities that allow the elderly to live in their own communities while receiving care instead of being institutionalised.

Ms Nara Kamala, 65, nurse manager of the care centre, said: "The proximity of the care centre to the homes of the elderly residents really makes a great difference as I am able to be at their aid within a much shorter time."

Sunlove started out as a charitable home for the intellectually disabled, but has since branched out to provide services to other needy groups , such as the elderly and students from financially disadvantaged families. It now provides services such as home nursing, counselling services and free tuition.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 06, 2017, with the headline Nursing help is just steps away for Marsiling's seniors. Subscribe